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Have you ever looked into the eyes of your babe and thought, “I wonder what he's thinking?”. Whether it be through a baby's actions or just a look he gives, we know that babies understand a great deal more than they are able to express verbally. Traditionally, a child needs to wait for physical maturity, to allow for the development of some 70 muscles necessary to produce a single word, before being able accurately able to communicate her thoughts. This leaves a large gap period in which frustration at their lack of ability to communicate may lead to tantrums, outbursts and physical acts of aggression such as hitting, screaming and biting. But since gross motor skills develop before the fine motor skills which are necessary for speech, it has been found that children have a natural capability to communicate– but with their hands!
Research has shown that teaching a child sign language signs allows them to more accurately communicate their wants, needs and observations and so reduces frustration for both child and caregiver alike.
“It's a simple process that doesn't require any prior knowledge of sign language”, says Meredith Bonte, who pioneered the use of sign language with hearing babies and toddlers in South Africa and founded the SIGNsational KIDS Institute. “Many of the signs are iconic, meaning they look like the object they represent, making them easy to remember.”
Despite initial concerns that signing may delay the acquisition of speech, the opposite is actually true. Drs. Acredolo & Goodwyn have found that signing children speak on average 3-4 months earlier, since the hand movements involved in signing stimulate the language centre of the brain. In addition to this, signing children showed a 30% increase in verbal vocabulary and scored 10-12 points higher on intelligence tests, 8 years later. “Although these benefits are a sound enough reason for any parent to decide to sign with their child, I found that the experience of truly connecting with my son absolutely marvellous!” says Meredith. “It was wonderful to gain insights into what he was thinking and there have been a number of instances where signing really paid off. One such instance occurred one evening when, my son Anthony, then aged 13 months who had been delaying his going to bed, looked at me tearfully and signed “scared” and “seal”. It was then that I remembered our outing to the zoo earlier that day. A seal had jumped out and barked at us, giving Anthony a fright. Now at night, this memory had made him anxious and it was so good to be able to reassure him, that there was nothing to worry about.”
Signing is easily incorporated into your child's daily routine and developing a habit of using some simple signs provides a way for your child to express himself. “The practical implications of signing meant that Anthony was able to tell me when he was hungry, thirsty or tired, which reduced his frustration at not yet being able to express himself verbally”, says Meredith, “ and as his speech developed, I was able to acknowledge and praise him for his early attempts at speaking and where words like, DOOR, DOLL, and DUCK for example, all sounded like “dah”, it made deciphering of words easy since the sign clarified what he was saying. It did wonders for his self-esteem.”
The use of South African Sign Language (SASL) as an early form of communication is now being viewed by many as an essential aid in effective parenting, and is being taken on by childcare centres around the country. “It has greatly reduced levels of frustration for both teachers and children and has allowed the children to express their wants needs and observations” says Gigi Bales, owner of Optibaby Fourways. “We also have found that there are fewer incidences of biting and temper tantrums”, says Gigi.
For those in the Gauteng area, Meredith offers parent workshops covering the process of signing as well as verbal language development skills and activities. In addition to this Meredith Bonte has just released her SIGNsational KIDS Complete Kit-South Africa's first comprehensive resource for learning SASL to communicate more meaningfully with your child. Visit her s ite at www.signingkids.co.za for more information.
